AUSTIN— The 83rd Legislature has restored approximately half of the Texas Recreation Parks Account (TRPA) and Large County & Municipality Recreation and Parks Account funding for the 2014-2015 biennium.

Funding will become available in 2014 for the Local Park Grant Program and for the Community Outdoor Outreach Program (CO-OP). As this is only a partial restoration, program rules such as award ceilings, scoring criteria and application deadlines need to be reviewed.

To assess the needs and desires of grant customers, TPWD’s planning a series of statewide public input meetings and an online customer survey. After the results of these inputs are obtained, TPWD staff will propose rule changes for adoption by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in early 2014, with a call for grant applicants subsequent.